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Sipdown! (40 | 106)

Finished off this tagalong from my Nordqvist Moomin tea order a couple of years ago. I really like sea buckthorn flavored things, so this was a no-brainer. I’ve never actually had sea buckthorn (unsurprisingly, it’s not really a thing here), but the flavoring is quite distinct. It reminds me a bit of passion fruit, but with more of an almost stonefruity lean to it? It’s sweet and tangy and… golden. Maybe with a bit of raspberry in there as well. Raspberry passion fruit?

True to form, the sea buckthorn here is lovely. The Assam base isn’t my favorite, it’s a bit tannic and acidic without having any other redeeming qualities. But as long as I don’t steep it too long, still makes a serviceable base for the yummy sea buckthorn.

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Not my favorite from this quarter’s box. I like the fruit flavors and the white tea well enough, but the rooibos comes in and ruins it for me. To be fair, I never like fruity and especially berry flavored rooibos, as it tastes so medicinal to me. There’s definitely some of that going on here, though the hibiscus does help to temper it a bit. Interesting that it has a smooth vanilla finish as well, which is an odd pairing with hibiscus.

Not bad, but not a favorite.

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Not my favorite from Tealyra. I didn’t get any kiwi, mostly this tasted like a combination of pineapple gummy bears and bubblegum. I added a palmful of hibiscus flowers to the last bottleful, which did help it taste a bit less cloying. But still, too artificial and candylike for me.

Sipdown! (37 | 103)

This was the only fruit tisane from Harney that I hadn’t tried, so I figured I’d pick up a tin when I was reordering the other flavors.

Sadly, I don’t enjoy it as much as the others. I think it must be the blueberry flavoring that’s giving me a powdery note, which I sometimes get with mixed berry teas. It reminds me a bit of Smarties, and not in a good way. Not to say it’s bad, as I did finish the whole tin over the course of 4 or 5 cold-steeped bottles, it’s just not as nice as the others (IMO). Pretty tin though!

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Finished off a 100g pouch of this one, cold-steeped. Definitely high on my list of favorite cold teas, it has a nice sour cherry sort of flavor without being too tart (and with no hibiscus actually). There is coconut, but thankfully I don’t really taste it. Mostly just a nice sweet and tangy Jolly Rancher sort of cherry flavor mixed with apple.

Definitely plan to reorder this one, and a few other winners from Tealyra.

Sipdown! (35 | 101)

Really enjoyed this one, it’s probably my favorite of the teas I ordered from Murchie’s. A bit like Harney’s Paris, except I actually like this one. It has a nice combination of rich and jammy black currant with a swirl of whipped cream and a touch of refreshing bergamot.

Definitely on my list to reorder! I’m sure the loose leaf version will be even better.

Another sample tin I picked up just because I hadn’t tried it, and a lot of the other blends in this series are very good.

This is definitely better than Sandy Claws, and actually a bit similar in that it also has a chocolate mint vibe. But here, there’s no strawberry, and there’s a mocha-flavored yerba mate, so it ends up tasting like a peppermint mocha. Fairly well-balanced between coffee, chocolate, and peppermint. I could do without the chocolate chips, which always leave that gross oil slick on top of my mug.

It’s a bit like a lesser (IMO) version of my favorite Winter Cabin from Old Barrel. If I didn’t love that one so much, I would maybe consider reordering this. Alas, it simply cannot compare! :P

Picked up a sample of this one and Scary Christmas, as they were the only two from the Nightmare Before Christmas fandom set that I hadn’t tried yet. They’re both chocolate teas, which is why I left them out of my initial sampling, not being a fan of chocolate flavoring.

This tastes less weird than it sounds. It’s a mix of chocolate mint rooibos, strawberry black tea, and hazelnut berry puerh. I’m not generally a big fan of mint with berries, especially in tea, where the mint is generally much stronger than it would be in, say, a fruit salad with a bit of mint added in. But this is mostly chocolate to me, like a Tootsie Roll with a bit of mint in it. I do get a touch of the strawberry, but mostly it’s fake chocolate and mint.

Fine, but not my preference.

This has a nice enough raspberry flavor – it’s quite authentic and doesn’t remind me of candy. I would like a bit more of it, I think, but overall this is quite well-balanced. I have other raspberry teas that I like better, but this is a decent one.

Sipdown! (5 | 71)

Cold steeped. This one is pleasant enough, but a touch candylike for my tastes. I’m not sure exactly what fruit it’s supposed to be, but it ends up reminding me of Sweet Tarts a bit. Looking at the description, looks like they’re going for guava and pineapple with strawberry. I definitely preferred their other two guava teas to this one, and I guess I can taste a bit of pineapple, but mostly it’s tangy fruit candy.